


Ein und Zwei

by Ulfsbane



Series: Special Forces RWBY AU [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24731677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ulfsbane/pseuds/Ulfsbane
Summary: A successful mission behind her and a long hike ahead to extraction, ex-special forces operator turned private contractor Ruby Rose comes across a stray dog.
Series: Special Forces RWBY AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788265
Kudos: 1





	1. Oscar Mike

Ruby lay prone in the grass, on the side of a hill north of the compound she had just hit and escaped. Even without any binoculars, she could see and hear the remaining soldiers frantically shouting and running around, looking for the intruder.

She looked down at the remote detonator in her gloved hand, making sure it had signal, before flicking the safety off and pressing the button.

The blast of the ensuing explosion forced her head down in the dirt. There wasn't a big orange ball of fire, but debris of construction material and men blew outwards and up, flattening the outter concrete walls and sending air pressure rolling across the landscape.

Ruby slowly crawled up the hill, tactical pack in her hand, custom suppressed rifle on her back, and crested the ridgeline while the boom was still echoing in her ears. The explosives she had planted would both act as a distraction and erase any evidence of where she was headed, but she didn't allow herself to follow her urge to just get up and runaway least risk getting spotted by any survivors or a third party.

After an hour of low crawling on the ground with her light body armor dragging along the dirt and scooping some of it in her clothes, Ruby quietly got up to a knee, and strapped the pack back on. She wiped some the mud that got on her and her rifle and its attachments before jogging to the treeline, where she would take a small break to check the map and orient herself. It was going to be a long hike to the extraction point.

\---

Ruby stood in front of the altar in her dress blue uniform; the numerous medals and ribbons across her chest, every crease, and every stripe perfectly aligned.

"I, Ruby Rose, take Jaune Arc, to be my lawfully wedded husband-" she repeated.

Jaune stood in front her, his black suit just as pristine. He smiling down at her as she said her vows.

"-for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer-" continued the chaplain.

"-for better, for worse; for richer for poorer-"

"-in sickness and in health, to love and cherish-"

"-till death do us part."

At the chaplain's command, Jaune leaned down to kiss her, tears in the corners of his closed eyes but a wide smile on his face. Ruby still had to push up on the tip of her toes to catch his lips.

On cue, thunderous applause echoed across the small church, as friends and family alike stood up from their seats and congratulated the newly wed couple- although obviously no one as loud as her sister, Yang.

\---

Ruby immediately took a knee and wheeled around with her rifle up and aimed towards the rustling sound behind her.

The small dog froze in its place behind the bushes, sensing hostile intent.

Ruby froze as well, but with indecision instead. The animal was too young for it to be a tracking dog, and the wrong type, too. She had no idea where it had came from either, but if its owner was right behind, they could compromise her mission.

The rifle slowly dropped down, Ruby not willing shoot an innocent pup. Anyways the shot, even if it was suppressed, would still be heard from far enough for anybody listening for it.

Instead, she quickly turned around, hoping the dog would understand she didn't want it to follow her. Even if the dog itself wasn't dangerous, maybe trackers could use its spoor or barking to find her.

The dog made a low whining sound, clumsily jumping over a tree root Ruby had just stepped over to follow her.

Ruby turned around a second time. She held her open hand up in front of it, ordering it to stop and sit. The dog listened to that quiet command, sitting down on its hind, and expectantly looking at her.

But when she turned away, the dog once more whined and kept following her.

Sighing, Ruby knew right then and there that she had to take care of this problem.

Reaching to her side, she pulled the thin knife out of its sheath attached to her vest.

\---

They were the only two in the hospital corridor and in the world right now. The only sounds that could be heard were Ruby's muffled sobbing and the harsh overhead fluroscent lights.

"Shhh," Jaune attempted to calm his wife down, while tears threatned to come out his own eyes. "It's going to be okay."

Ruby continued sobbing in Jaune's chest.

"We can always adopt, you know," he said."Or find a donor. Or..." He didn't know exactly what to say. Just anything to make Ruby feel better.

They went home, softly crying themselves to sleep in each others arms that night. It was a few weeks until they got better and one day, Jaune was waiting at the door when Ruby returned home from work.

"Stay here," he said after greeting her with a kiss. "And close your eyes."

Ruby obeyed with a bemused smile as Jaune walked away giddily around the corner and into their living room. She heard him return a second later, and felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, as well as something wiggling in front of her.

She opened her eyes to see a puppy looking back at her, struggling to reach her in Jaune's other arm.

"Oh my gosh!" Ruby squealed, and took him from Jaune and hugged it close. The dog happily licked her cheeks, earning a giggle from his new owner.

"What? Why? When-" Ruby struggled to form a proper question, squeezing the cute thing.

"I went to a shelter, as soon as you left this morning," Jaune explained. "There's some paperwork left, but I took care of most of it."

"What's your name?" Ruby cooed at the puppy.

"His name is Ein."

Ruby turned her deadpanned eyes to him. "Ein- 'One'? Seriously?"

\---

One more piece of jerkey was placed in front of it, and the dog quickly ate that too. Ruby wasn't too worried of running out of food, since it didn't really need as much due to its small size. And she had packed more than she needed just in case anyway.

Several kilometers in rough terrain at a gruelling pace, the thing had still kept up with her, even if she had tried to lose it several times by speeding up. For having followed her all this way, Ruby felt maybe he deserved the food she was sharing with him. Before it probably wouldn't be able to follow her tomorrow.

It was almost nightfall now, and Ruby and the dog were lying down side by side in the tight space underneath a fallen tree. She didn't bother making a fire. Too many plants around the area that may catch and spread the fire, and it might give away her position as well.

She tore off another small piece of dried meat and turned on her side to dangle it in front of the dog's mouth. He bit it, from his position in her chest, and used his front paws and teeth to tear it in further smaller pieces.

"Do you want to know why I left the military?" She whispered. "I quit so that I could spend more time my husband."

She quietly chuckled, bitterly. "And then I went and got into private contracting. I convinced him that it would be good for us, since I could choose my own hours... But of course, that didn't work out."

"Fighting is the only I know," Ruby sighed. "I thought I couldn't live without a war to die in, but I realized too late that I can't live without him either. Isn't that ironic?"

The dog ignored her in favor of his food. As the sky got darker, Ruby let herself go to sleep with a source of warmth next to her for the first time in years.

As soon as she woke up, so did the dog. Ruby couldn't see the morning sun through the thick forest, but dawn reached the top of the trees.

She stayed motionless for a minute, listening to her surroundings for any movement or voices while ignoring the dog licking her nose.

Finally satisfied that they were alone, she got up to dust herself off and her armor- which she had slept with it on, and reached into her pack to pull out a canteen of water, some protein bars, and a map.

She propped her rifle next to her, and she sat down to eat with the puppy. Although she knew where she was and where she was going, it didn't hurt to double-check. She mulled over the map laid out in front of her while munching on her food.

With a final chug of water, she stood up, hefted her pack and rifle, and started marching. The dog followed at her heels.

\---

"I just want..." Jaune trailed off.

"Please, Jaune. What do you want from me?" Ruby barely held herself back from screaming at her husband across the living room.

Jaune sighed. Looked at the TV. Ruby waited for a response.

"Everyday when turn on the news, I see the all these bad things happening around the world," he finally said. "And knowing that you're out there... I just don't want you to die, and I find out when somebody knocks on the door."

"I'm not going to die."

"Did you know I haven't gone to the Special Operations Spouses Support meeting since the first time I went?" Jaune asked.

Ruby frowned at the change in topic. "Why not?"

"I was the only guy there, Ruby. It didn't seem like they were comfortable with me there."

"That's not- Jaune-"

"You're going to be late," Jaune interrupted.

Ruby looked down at her wristwatch and frowned. She still had a good fifteen minutes before she had to leave, but she understood what he meant.

"Alright. I'll see you next month," she sighed. She grabbed her jacket from the armrest of the couch, checked that the car keys were in there, and headed for the door.

"I love you," she said, turning around.

"I love you too," Jaune said. Ruby pecked him on the lips before walking out the house.

\---

The creak was more of a river than the map showed. The map also showed it flowed into the sea in the east, and originated from an impassable mountain range in the northwest.

Circumventing was not an option. Ruby knew this was the narrowest part, but she wasn't sure if she was tall enough to reach the bottom. The current wasn't strong however, so she might have been able to swim across.

She looked down at the small dog sitting next to her feet, who looked back at her. It definitely wasn't coming with her.

Ruby picked up a large fallen branch taller than her a few feet away, and lugged it to the edge of the water.

The branch slid in vertically until it struck the bottom, and barely stuck a few inches out of the surface. Satisfied, she let go, letting it get caught in the current and watched it drift off to her right, downstream.

She shrugged off her backpack, tightened her rifle sling, and plunged into the water, pack first.

Once she resurfaced, one arm pushed the floating pack in front, her other gliding through the water, and she started kicking her legs in a scissoring motion. Her bulletproof vest, her wet clothes, hiking boots, and the cold weighed her down, but she ignored them and kept swimming.

It only took only a few minutes until she reached the other side and tossed the pack over before crawling out herself up pulling a tree root. Everything was still wet and cold, but it wouldn't be for long once she started hike again.

Ruby turned around to look for the dog that she knew was probably crying for her on the other side, then she did a double take as she spotted it getting dragged away by the current, already several meters to her right.

The rifle stayed slung to her back, but the body armor was quickly unclipped and thrown next to her bag, and she once again hopped into the freezing water.

Without the added weight, Ruby was able to quickly swim up to it and snatch it out of the water. She held the puppy up above the surface, while using the side stroke to get back to the bank.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and landed right front of her face, spray water into her eyes. Instinctively squeezing her eyes shut, she threw the dog to where she thought solid ground was. Hearing it yelp as it landed, she sent it a mental apology then dived down as deep as she could.

More rounds whizzed by underwater, their velocity significantly slowed down as they struck the surface that she could follow their trails with her eyes. She held breath and let the current help her get further away.

The fire had come from the north side of the river, meaning they weren't survivors from the compound south, but another group. Probably a response team and not an unrelated third party, she thought, since they had attacked her on sight. But she didn't know how many or exactly which direction.

Her pack contained her radio and smoke grenade, which she was supposed to use at the landing zone to signal her flight back home. More pressingly, though, the dog might have been in danger.


	2. HLZ

A private walked in through the doors to the squad bay, which Ruby, who was in her rack, frowned at from over her book. It wasn't like this area was restricted, but usually only her team and higher ups that came in here.

Said private walked down the bay towards her.

"Um... good evening ma'am," the boy stood at parade rest in front of her rack.

"Relax," she chuckled. She swung her legs out to sit up, and she was short enough that her head didn't hit the top bunk.

He didn't change positions. "Major wants to see you, ma'am."

"Thanks," she simply replied as she set her book down.

The private promptly walked away, and Ruby followed a second after.

It turned out that Jaune had sent an official request to get in contact with her, citing that there were problems back home.

Ruby was glad her husband had used official means instead of calling her higher ups' personal contacts, but was still troubled at the fact he didn't just call her directly.

She was given a private room with a laptop so that they could use a secured videochat. The program loaded, and Jaune's worried face came on screen.

"Hey, what's up?" Ruby asked.

"Hey, Ruby," he greeted back. "I've been... kicked out of the house."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I got a letter the other day, saying we're getting evicted. I've made a few phone calls, and it turns out that the housing allowance wasn't coming through- that there was some error in the system?"

"Have you tried going directly to the office?"

"I have. Several times, but they haven't been helpful," Jaune explained." Then someone finally told me that since the housing allowance is coming from you, that you have to come here in person."

"Alright. So, when did they say you were going to get kicked out?"

Jaune scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Like... a week ago?"

"Jaune!" Ruby gasped. "Why didn't you tell me? Where are you staying right now?"

"Well, I was trying to handle it myself, you know? I didn't want to worry you, Ruby."

"Jaune, I'm your wife. We're in this together," she said. "Where have you been staying?"

"Pyrrha offered me to stay at her place for the meantime," Jaune shrugged.

"Pyrrha did?"

"Yeah," Jaune rose an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. Nothing. Just... keep trying, Jaune. Everything will work out. I'll try to do something on my end. Alright?"

"Okay."

\---

Luckily, the scouts had overestimated the distance they thought the river had dragged her out. Three soldiers- the one in front must have been the leader, since the other two were only keeping watch around them; were marching past her.

Ruby also noticed that the point man was wearing her gear. The personally customized body armor and backpack's camouflage pattern did not match the soldier's uniform, making him ironically more visible.

She had chosen to walk out perpendicularly a few meters away from the edge of the water, rightly guessing that they would follow it downstream. Her rifle was propped in a split down the trunk of a tree, and her eye lined up the reticle to the head of the lead man.

A single suppressed shot felled him, as did two more to the chest the second man. The third man managed to fling himself behind a rock, dodging his intended rounds by an inch.

Ruby quickly flipped the selector switch to full auto, picked up her rifle from its platform, and let loose on his cover all the while advancing. The barrage of bullets chipped away at it, but the enemy soldier stayed well protected beyond it.

When the bolt locked to the rear, she lept the last few steps to shove the man's rifle down away from her..

Her other hand swiftly unsheathed her knife to unleash quick stabs into his chest. She ripped the rifle away from his hands as gurgling came out of his throat, and he finally collapsed.

She allowed herself thirty seconds to check her gear was still serviceable and circle back to where she had last seen the dog.

It didn't take long to get back since she was sprinting the entire way. She only slowed down when bullet marks became visible on the bark of the trees around, but she didn't stop to catch her breath.

There were brass cartridges on the ground now, but no sound, which meant they had moved on. The search party she had taken down was probably one of the many spread out around the forest in a line. Going back through the gap wouldn't be too hard.

She thought maybe the dog had fled, before almost stepping on his corpse. Thankfully, her balance was still on her rear foot, and she quickly stepped back.

She did a quick scan of her surrounding, before kneeling down to it. Bullet wounds had torn his small body apart, entrails and guts hanging out. A short look around told her that he probably died trying to stop her gear from getting stolen. He hadn't run away.

But then she didn't know what to say. She didn't know any prayers by heart, and she had wasted valuable time running back just to stare at a dead animal anyway, so she shouldered her rifle, got up, and left.

Five hours later and less than a klick away from her extraction, she took a knee next to a tree to break radio silence. She could see the empty grass field ahead where her ride home would land.

From her pack she took out the water-proofed radio, unsealed it, and turned it on. She strapped the radio to her vest, plugged in the earpiece, and pushed the transmit button down.

"Beacon, this is Crescent Rose. Radio check, over."

Only a second later, she got a reply.

"Crescent Rose, Beacon. I hear you broken but readable. How me? Over."

"I hear you same. I'm currently at HLZ-One. How copy?"

"Solid copy. Helo is ETA thirty mikes, callsign Bullhead-One."

"Roger, out."

Ruby sighed with relief. The canopy was messing with comms, but she wasn't about run out in the open when there were still possible hostiles in the area.

Twenty minutes later, she was proven right. As she was sweeping the area one more time, she spotted more and more movement between the trees. Her pursuers were closing in on her position. But if she were to retreat away from them, she would hit the treeline, exposing herself.

"Bullhead-One, Crescent Rose. Enemy contacts are closing in. What's your ETA?"

"Five mikes. Hang in there."

"Roger."

Ruby made herself as small as possible laying down behind the base of a thick tree, trying to become one with the undergrowth, while still having her rifle trained at the nearest soldiers coming closer and closer.

A few minutes later, one of them was slowly walking towards her hiding spot from twenty meters away, and she willed herself even flatter to the bark. The suppressor barely cleared around the trunk, and she could only hear him and not see him.

His footsteps got a little closer, and Ruby readied herself for violence.

The next nearest man sounded about fifty meters her left, on the other side of the tree. Maybe she would only have to take down the one right in front of her if she could be quiet enough. A knife would do the job if he ended up walking right on top of her.

\---  
"Honey, I'm home!" Ruby yelled out as she opened the door to their house.

Walking in, she hung her jacket on the rack, and crouched down to greet Ein.

"Hey, boy!" She tried to pet him and hold him down at the same time, the dog trying jump to his owner to catch a few licks and his tail wagging violently from joy.

Jaune walked out of the corner, and Ruby stood up from Ein to peck him on the cheek.

"So, how was your day?" He asked.

"Exhausting," Ruby half-jokingly slumped forward into his chest. "I'm pretty sure they're using the gigantic amount of forms and checklists as a deterrent from anyone leaving the military. How was yours?"

Jaune chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her. "It was good," he spoke in the crown of her hair. "I have an interview next week."

"That's awesome!" she hopped back to kiss him. "You're going to do great. I know it."

An hour later, Jaune and Ruby and Ein went out to get dinner. Their future seemed bright as they chatted about their plans once Ruby finalized her paperwork and became a stay-at-home wife, and Jaune would get a stable job, over expensive steak and wine.


End file.
